[ecrea] MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019

Wed Nov 14 21:08:56 GMT 2018

The MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019 (OSSC19) is a
transdisciplinary forum for practicing and discussing credibility,
transparency, and replicability issues in all social sciences –
emphatically including media and communication studies! This conference
will bring together junior and senior social scientists to make a push
for doing, debating, and advancing more openness in the social sciences.
We would like to see many media and communications scholars join us!

The conference program is now available online. Note that participation
in the conference and the following Research Transparency and
Reproducibility Workshop, offered in collaboration with the Berkeley
Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences, will be entirely
free (no registration fees). Participation by media and communication
scholars encouraged!

OSSC19: Practicing New Standards in Transparency and Reproducibility

About a decade ago, John Ioannidis claimed that “most published research
findings are false”. While seeming outrageous at the time, a growing
body of meta-scientific research in the behavioral and social sciences
has since substantiated this claim, causing uncertainty about the
trustworthiness of published scientific findings. We believe that
threats to the validity of published findings in the social sciences are
widespread and systemic. Therefore, this conference promotes
introspection about the current state of social science research and
exchange on the opportunities for institutional and methodological
improvement in the future. It is interdisciplinary in nature. Scholars
working in any branch and within any methodology of the social sciences
are invited to attend. The conference is supported by the Berkeley
Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS) and will take
place from 25-27 January 2019 at the Mannheim Centre for European Social
Research (MZES) in Mannheim, Germany.

As part of the MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019, the MZES and
BITSS will hold a BITSS Research Transparency and Reproducibility
Workshop in Mannheim, Germany on 27 January 2019 (Venue: to be confirmed).

The full-day workshop will provide participants with an overview of some
of the most important and effective tools and best practices for
transparent and reproducible social science research. The curriculum has
been developed and will be delivered by academic leaders in the open
science movement, with a focus on hands-on skills building. Topics
covered in the workshop include: Pre-registration and pre-analysis
plans, dynamic documents for research publication, reproducible
workflows including data-coding strategies and version control as well
as data management and de-identification for open data. Participants are
encouraged to bring their own ideas for applications based on their own
interests to seek support and feedback from instructors and other attendees.

Based at the University of California, Berkeley, the Berkeley Initiative
for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS) works to strengthen the
integrity of social science research and evidence used for
policy-making. The initiative aims to enhance the practices of
economists, psychologists, political scientists, and other social
scientists in ways that promote research transparency, reproducibility,
and openness.

The workshop is designed for researchers across the social sciences
spectrum, with particular emphasis on communication, political science,
and sociology. We expect participants to be: (i) current Masters and PhD
students, (ii) postdocs, (iii) junior faculty, (iv) research staff, (v)
librarians and data stewards, or (vi) journal editors, research funders,
and research managers in the social sciences curious about the
implications of transparency and reproducibility for their work.

The workshop is targeted to participants who primarily use quantitative
or mixed methods. Applicants should have proficiency in at least one
statistical analysis software package. Proficiency with Stata or R is
desirable, but not required.

How much does it cost to participate?

There is no tuition or attendance fee and participation is free for
guests and participants of the MZES Open Social Science Conference 2019.
Snacks will be provided during the day.

How can I register as a participant?

You can register as a guest of the MZES Open Social Science Conference
2019 here. On the registration form, make sure to indicate registration
for the workshop through the corresponding dropdown menu. The
application includes questions regarding your motivation to participate
in the MZES Open Social Science Conference. Admission to the workshop
will be made on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be a
waiting list and registered participants will be asked to confirm their
participation in early December, after which participant spots will be
made available again for registrants on the waiting list.